Temasek: saints past and present

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani swept through Southeast Asia this summer, traveling back and forth between Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, in the company of renowned nasheed singer Habib Syech Abdul Qodir Assegaf from Solo, Indonesia.  SimplyIslam was organizing a huge public event, and with more than six years having passed since I last sat in his blessed company, […]

Hold Fast

To God was his call, and those who hold fast to him hold fast to a rope that shall never break. Baginda mengajak umat ke jalan Allah. Maka sesiapa yang berpegang teguh dengan ajarannya, bererti ia telah berpegang teguh dengan tali yang kuat yang tidak akan berputus. Verily, God and His angels send prayers upon […]

Mawlid Barzanji

12 Rabi’ul Awwal has come and gone again. In the past, I’ve written about a famous book of poetry about the birth of Prophet Muhammad (s) called Mawlid Daiba’i. Actually the Mawlid poetry more widely read in Malaysia is Mawlid Barzanji, named after its composer, Imam Zayn al-`Abidin Ja`far ibn Hasan al-Barzanji (d. 1177) (r). […]